His first believer
by AsheliaHime
Summary: She was smart, not even giving him the time to object her. He needed a moment to realize the situation, before he stood face to face with her: „Rapunzel, you're way too reasonable for a child your age."


**Time:** Pre-Rise of the guardians; Pre-Tangled  
**prompt by Lina (lovelylina94):** Jack constantly visits Rapunzel when she's a little girl and spends a lot of time playing with her. He stops visiting her for a couple of years because he was too busy with his duty as a winter spirit. He visits her again when she's 17 years old, but she can no longer see him. Desperate to get the attention of the first child to see him, he tries everything to get her to believe unitl he succeeds.  
**note: **My first prompt ever for my 100th tumblr follower, who is the (literally) lovely Lina (who also had the work to proof read it). It's the first time I wrote in English from the start and not just translate, so I hope it's any good!

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Jack never thought that a six year old could teach him so much. He wandered almost 300 years the grounds of the earth, freezing it, letting people slip on it, laughed about it. They would call him mischievous if they would know who was responsible for this but no, they refused to think that someone held such power over the cold. Rather, it was the weather's fault or their own for not paying attention. They refused to acknowledge the existence of Jack Frost. Everyone he met - except one.

She was looking out to the sky with those big green eyes, full of wonder and belief.

„Why?," she mumbled disappointed. The sky above her was nothing but pitch black. Not a single star was to be seen.

„Isn't anybody out there?", she sobbed silently, hiding under the window sill. Her mother had gone somewhere, leaving her alone. She promised to be a good girl in her absence, not telling her about her fear of being alone.

„It is okay to be scared, isn't it? I didn't promise her to be brave anyway. She didn't even ask me to," she tried talking to herself.

She felt warm tears streaming down her face, her gaze blurred. She didn't notice how the air grew colder in the room. Not until a boy's hand dried her tears. His hands were cool but she didn't mind. In any other situation she would be scared, maybe even scream for her life. Not now.

His blue eyes calmed her and she silently leaned into the fabric of his hoodie. He couldn't loosen her firm grip and he pitied the girl who clung to him like she was fearing for her life. They didn't speak that night, but it was the night Jack Frost learned the meaning of comforting someone and how it could warm the coldest and loneliest of hearts.

She quickly made friends with the stranger who suddenly appeared in her tower when she needed someone most. She had never met a boy before so everything about him was new to her but she was curious and eager asking him about anything that seemed odd to her.

„How did you come here?" she asked knowing that the entrance to this tower was hidden so that even she wasn't able to find it. _Not that she tried finding it anyway, because she was a good girl…_

„I flew," he answered simply.

„You flew?" she repeated with disbelief „So… boys can fly?"

„Well, not every boy of course. Just think of me… as someone special." His laugh made her uncomfortable, but for Jack it was the first time that someone could see him. That he could actually talk with someone. He didn't want to scare her off and say he wasn't human. And it worked. She took him for who he was, not what he was.

It got a habit of his to visit her once in a while and watch her grow. They never left the tower, because she confessed to him - _oh, irony_ - that she was scared of strangers and her mother taught her to beware. Also something about her hair, that he couldn't understand, at least not at that time. But it wasn't something that would stop him from having fun.

They played a lot. He was a master at hide and seek, but she outdid him in puzzles and strategy games even in her younger years. She wore the biggest smiles when they painted together on her walls, decorating it with memories and echoes of laughter, which were never meant to be forgetten.

He enjoyed the time with her, but couldn't help getting more and more restless every time. Maybe it was because he forgot his duties as the spirit of winter, maybe it was because she stopped him from teasing random citizens. He didn't know.

She was eight when she told him: „You don't need to stay."

There was a bitter but genuine smile on her lips, while he was caught off-guard. „What?"

„You heard me. You told me yourself how you travelled the world - and stopped just for me."

He couldn't deny the truth in her words, but leaving felt wrong to him. Before he could say anything, she continued: „I know you'll come back to me, right?"

She was smart, not even giving him the time to object her. He needed a moment to realize the situation, before he stood face to face with her: „Rapunzel, you're way too reasonable for a child your age."

She didn't know how to react to those words. She didn't even know other children; people except him and her mother. He cupped her face with his hands and she looked him in the eyes, where the snowflakes danced.

„Of course, I'll come back to you." With those words he kissed her forehead and whispered his final words to her: „Be a brave girl, okay?"

She nodded and was glad that he didn't see her eyes shining with tears of goodbye.

He made his way through the world like he was used to. The wind was his guide and the laughter of children his praise. And then he found that place. A place that felt like home, where kids cheered when they saw him. The sensation over hearing his name was still overwhelming to him.

_„I can't believe Jack Frost is here, where were you my whole life?"_

He felt a twitch of sadness upon hearing those words. That was what he wanted his whole life. But he didn't feel as happy as he thought he would. He didn't feel as happy as he was with Rapunzel. So he decided to go back, to the place, where she hopefully waited for him.

She never left the tower. Not only because she waited for him, but because she wasn't allowed to leave it. Her mother never changed her mind about that matter. The years passed while she painted, cooked, baked, sewed, read and danced.

Jack never noticed how much time had passed, not until he saw her after all this time.

„Wow, look at you! I didn't think you'd be that tall by now!", he greeted her and opened his arms for her. She came closer till she walked right through him. He shivered.

„Times up, Pascal! Ready or not I'll find you!", she announced while Jack watched her with a shocked expression, his mind still processing what just happened.

She walked right through him. - Who was Pascal? - She walked right through him. - Did she replace him? -_She walked right through him. She stopped seeing him. She stopped believing in him._

He followed her around while she searched for her pet.

„Rapunzel, that's not funny, okay."

„You know I'll find you," she announced while opening the window, looking between the few flowers she was caring for.

„Punz, listen," he waved his hand next to her face.

„It doesn't matter where you hide!" she laughed.

„Stop ignoring me already!", he shouted angrily. It was quiet in the room, Rapunzel froze in her movement (because Jack's emotions influenced the temperature in the room rapidly).

„Maybe I should close the window… the wind seems to be nasty today."

He couldn't give her up like this. How could he? She was his very first believer. But every try to get her attention and bring back her memory of him failed. He tried freezing, sending snowflakes across her way, but it melted almost instantly. Maybe it was the memory of how worried she was in the past when Gothel tripped on the ice he had made accidentally that it blocked his abilities now. Jack had always been someone who prefered laughter far more than crying.

And how he loved her laugh. He was glad that after all the time she didn't lose it. Her eyes still watching her small world full of kindness and warmth. But not him.

It was a night like the one they met. No stars and moon to be seen outside. Jack watched her brushing her hair. She had been already in her nightgown when he arrived from the kingdom nearby, observing the people in their routine. Still there was this depressing silence between them. His sadness swallowed every word he wanted to say to her. Instead he waited till she went to bed and found her way into dreamland till he was ready to get near her.

He sat down beside her, his voice barely cracked as he started telling her about the past he didn't want to let go. How they met first, the small child who was crying and him, and how she gave him a purpose for the first time in centuries.

„I was alone for so long. And then there was you, scared of the dark and the loneliness around you. It was like… we felt the same that night. No more. You could see me. You noticed me. You accepted me."

His words fell silent as she sighed content in her dream. He wondered what she was dreaming of with that gentle smile on her face. He couldn't help but smile, too, despite of feeling miserable.

His hand reached out, almost touching her cheek before he stopped in his movement. In the last moment he decided otherwise going for her soft blonde hair.

„You know" he whispered „you told me of a song back then. It sounded like a spell to me, but if there's only a small chance for it to work…" He'd risk it. What could happen other than being ignored by her till the rest of his life?

He cleared his throat, trying to find the right words in his memory. First he only hummed the melody that was connected to them till he dared to add the words - unsure if his singing voice was any good: „Flower, gleam and glow, let your power shine."

Surprised he observed how her hair started glowing, almost forget the next line to come:

„Make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine."

That was all he remembered. He was sure he missed something as he watched her hair darken to his usual colour again. Giving up he made his way to the window and looked to the sky. Even the moon abadoned him.

„Why? Why can't I have her back? I tried everything…"

He didn't see the girl wake up behind him nor get up and approach the window where the boy stood.

„Jack? Is that you?"


End file.
